SAC approves amendments to J&K Panchayati Raj Act, 1989

“Village committees need to be consulted before preparing development plan for panchayats”

Srinagar: In a step towards devolution of more powers to the people, the Jammu and Kashmir government has amended the Panchayati Raj Act to provide for consultation with the “halqa majlis” (village-level committee) before preparing a development plan for a panchayat.

The State Administrative Council (SAC), which met here last evening under the chairmanship of Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra, approved amendments to the Panchayati Raj Act, 1989 to provide for consultation with the “halqa majlis” before preparing a development plan for a panchayat, an official spokesman said here today.

He added that the decision was a step towards devolution of more powers to the people, who will be empowered to decide about their development requirements or area-specific activities.

Also, in order to provide continuity to the development of panchayats and in the absence of halqa panchayats, the amendment empowered the block development officer (BDO) concerned to collect fees or taxes already imposed by a halqa panchayat, the spokesman said.

He added that to facilitate the process of early panchayat polls in the state, the SAC approved an amendment proposed by the department of rural development and panchayati raj to exclude the “sarpanch” (village head) from the minimum and maximum number of “panch” in a panchayat, so that no fresh exercise of delimitation of panchayats was required to be undertaken.

…gives nod to fare hike for commercial passenger vehicles

SRINAGAR, AUGUST 02: In order to provide immediate relief to the transporters and vehicle owners who are plying commercial passenger vehicles and are providing transportation facilities to the general public, the State Administrative Council (SAC), which met here last evening under the chairmanship of Governor, N N Vohra, approved revision in the passenger fare of all commercial passenger vehicles keeping in view sharp rise in the fuel prices and other operational and maintenance cost.

In this regard, Motor Vehicles Department carried out the cost analysis based on all relevant inputs including fuel prices in the month of April 2018 and a proposal was submitted to the Transport Department. The Department convened a meeting of the Fare Revision Committee constituted for recommending increase in fare and freight structure, in which representatives of the various Transport Associations and Unions from across J&K also participated.